yorky

We always use the Uber app these days, it really is quick and simple, pay on the app and the service in the states is amazing, great drivers and clean cars, never had an issue.

3 minutes ago, Treacher1 said:

Has anyone used the Celebrity one night hotel pre cruise that includes transportation to the pier?  Please advise how it went  - I like having it all prepaid and part of Celebrity package.  My concern is the time of transportation to pier?  Must you sign up when you get to hotel?  Is it hard to get the time you wish?  Just curious how the transportation to pier really works.  Is it a bus and pick up others for other ships?  Any information would be greatly appreciated.  This would be at the Embassy Suites 17th St. in Ft. Lauderdale.  Thanks for your help!

I can’t advice on what a Celebrity offer but we cruised out of Ft Lauderdale in September, booked our own hotels and just used an Uber, we had a car available within 5/10 minutes every time, we were based in a Miami and took an Uber to the port in Ft Lauderdale, very good value and probably a lot cheaper than paying Celebrity. On top of that you can make your own decision on when you arrive at the pier.

Yep, sadly it’s looking more and more likely that cruises early next year are going to be effected one way or another. 

3 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

I would agree with you but we have never stayed in an inside. Claustrophobic. Just the idea fills me with dread. But we have only done a suite once in all those years of sailing X. Usually Aqua and even that works out, especially with shore excursions and specialty restaurants, both two things we love to do. Not to mention all the stuff they don't have. 

 

Hope you are having a beautiful day in one of my FAVORITE countries—Scotland. We were there last year in June and the year before for the Tattoo. 

 

Jim

As with everywhere else it’s been tough not been able to get out, I’ve been off work for four months now and frankly can’t wait to get back, I’ve suffered quite badly with  anxiety for pretty much the first time in my life, very unexpected, but hopefully back to work  soon. Other than that the Scottish summer this year has been pretty good with lots of fine weather

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

We are long-time X cruisers (both Elite Plus) and we have two more X cruises scheduled (one Galapagos) and then we are pretty sure we are done. Tired of the changes. Hate the entire idea of the E-class and there are so many things that have changed over the years that we miss. So we are off to Viking Ocean. Smaller ship, no smoking, no casino, no photo sales, no upgrade sales in the spa, no kids under 18, free shore excursions (one per port), free specialty restaurants, much bigger staterooms...and yes, more expensive. But when I add up everything I pay for on X, it comes out close to the same for a much better experience for us. 

I think that’s the key for many individuals. If you are a suite passenger with X you are obviously paying closer to the Cost  of a Viking cruise. For people like ourselves who have an inside cabin booked for our next cruise it’s still a huge difference, knock off the cost of the drinks, grats, and OBC and we are paying around £1000 for the two of us.

1 minute ago, kwokpot said:

That's good to know. It also seems many more people in the UK book their cruises as total packages from a tour company than in The States.That was pretty evident last year when Thomas Cook went bankrupt and the UK had to repatriate Thomas Cook customers stuck abroad. That's not GENERALLY how the majority of Americans book their holidays.

Yes it’s still very popular to book a package over here especially the older generation who feel more secure doing it that way. Personally we book everything independently and have done for years, we find it always comes out cheaper. We also tend to use our air miles to book some of our hotels.

8 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Seems like it's more of an American thing though. I had this whole debate last year on this board regarding flying into Rome for our Suez Canal cruise and other European passengers on our cruise though it very odd that we would fly in a day or more earlier. European cruisers thought it was odd even if they were coming to Florida for a cruise. It seems for them they always fly in the same day as embarkation. I even had indignant responses when I explained that it's nice to tour what the embarkation city has to offer. I had more than one reply they have no interest in sightseeing at the embarkation point and other responses that American based airlines must not be very good if we can't trust the flight scheduling. I gave up on explaining the benefits.

We always fly out a couple of days early and stay two or three days afterwards when flying to the states. Ok in summer it’s unlikely you would lose a day flying out but it does happen.

I would just say if there are other cruise lines offering better value for the level we can afford, ( up to £3000 for the two of us for 11 nights or more with the perks) please point them out. I’ve not been able to find any.

1 minute ago, TeeRick said:

In reading posts here for all the years where LLP has been in charge, many people react negatively to everything she says and does.  But they still cruise Celebrity.  So more cruisers becoming vocal as you state is not really new- it is just a continuing trend.

I really don’t worry about what’s said, while Celebrity meets our expectations and is affordable to us we will carry on booking with them. When it fails to do that we will move on.

32 minutes ago, ABoatNerd said:

 

Redtravel, yet another excellent assessment of Celebrity.

 

Celebrity today is a failed version of the high quality Celebrity of the past up to about 2015.  Since Celebrity got Royalized we and our travelling group have boycotted Celebrity.

 

In many ways Celebrity is trading, or has traded on their past reputation. But the downgrading, class fixation, removal of forward viewing areas, selling of "balcony" style cabins on Edge and decamp Goop promotions have successfully moved many former patrons to other lines. 

 

Our group TA, and their agency, will not recommend Celebrity to most clients because Celebrity does not provide value for money and their marketing is far off what is delivered aboard.

We still find Celebrity very good value for money. After a problem with a cabin on our last cruise we received a very generous FCC, a porter at the docks damaged a suitcase, Celebrity gave us a replacement while onboard and refunded the full cost of the suitcase when we returned home. Our next cruise to Asia cost us £2100 for the two of us, that’s for a 14 night cruise  that includes a drinks package, gratuities paid, and $200 OBC. We will upgrade the drinks package and purchase a restaurant package which allows us to eat in Murano and Sushi on 5 most nights. We still find the average crew member excellent and dinner in Murano is a good as any restaurant we dine in. The cabins in Celebrity are absolutely fine and we enjoy the entertainment. We can always get a sunbed and the drinks we receive around the bars more than meet our expectations. The average Celebrity passenger seems to be happy with the product when we speak with them.Yes there is up-selling these days but we purchase these things in advance anyway.   I took a look at Viking after hearing good things, it looks excellent with far fewer passengers but at a considerable cost, one which is above our means, we simply don’t have eight to 12 thousand pounds to pay for a cruise. As with everything in life you get what you pay for and if you can afford the six star lines you will receive a better product, but let’s not kid ourselves you are paying a premium for it. I’m sure if Celebrity had remained at the level it used to be we would have to pay far more for our cruise.

18 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

well wife's friend on FB called celebrity again and they said that our TA has to 'approve' the refund..... she phoned the TA and spoke to the other person there and they said they remember us asking for a full refund.... my wife even found the original e-mail she sent to the TA on 17 March requesting the refund.

So now the TA has to go back to the wholesaler, who has to go back to celebrity to get it changed into a refund....

 

This cruise was supposed to be for my 50th - which is in November..... I just hope that the refund comes before then!

Jeez the more I read about some TA’s through all this the more I’m glad we booked direct.

1 minute ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Straight from the CEO's mouth. He's on record saying cruises won't start at full capacity until 2022 at the earliest. That's 17 months from now in a perfect case scenario. He also mentioned starting at 50% capacity. Just because you are booked on a cruise that does sail, there's no guarantee you won't get booted due to capacity controls.  

That’s not the same as stating there will be no sailings.

14 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes it would be at the current promo.  I was just making sure that people remember that it would be possible before lift & shift as well as after.

Fair enough.

8 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

You might want to look at the price to upgrade the current room BEFORE Lift & Shift, would probably be less money based on the extremely high prices I'm seeing for next year.  But I'm not seeing and deals now either.   It's a game, but you have to play it.

Is there not a risk you could still lose the initial booking perks ?

4 hours ago, bebe08 said:

We just did a lift and shift for Panama Canal from Oct 2020 to Oct 2021. Price has gone up considerably since we booked.  I asked about upgrading and the cost was the difference between what we paid and today's price, so essentially we would be booking at today's prices.  We declined to upgrade.  Will keep an eye on prices and hopefully upgrade at some point, or try to do a move up bid.  

 

Yep I figured that’s what our rep was meaning, I did not even ask what the cost difference would be but as the cruise in 2022 was around £600 dearer there is no way we would have considered upgrading, we took the inside to save money.

11 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I think a nice compromise might be a limit of one ship/day.  And no 5,000+ pax ships.  I know when we pull into St. Maarten and I see 4 or 5 ships already there, I declare a sea day!  I was actually there once when we were the only ship in port.  Couldn't believe how different it was.

Yes we spent the day on the ship in September in Sat Maarten, been so many times and it just gets swamped with cruise ships at times as does St Thomas.

I asked if we could move up an inside cat we we did ours last week but the rep said the extra cost would be substantial.

15 minutes ago, Sam.Seattle said:

My DW is one of the nicest and most polite people you would ever want to meet.  The past few years she has had to give in to a scooter or quit traveling.  

 

I agree that a few scooters users might be "entitled", but I would imagine they were entitled when they were mobile too.  They probably were chair hogs, line cutters and reserved seats in the theater despite being told not to.

 

It has been amazing to step back and watch from a distance my wife attempt to secure an elevator during busy times.  Without fail, people just cut in front of her time after time.  Entitled "able body" folks that just walk in front of her as if she was not there.  

 

Moving on to the buffet.  Unless a staff member assists, the polite scooter user hardly has a chance to get up to the counter.

 

I wish my DW could walk again.  This is goal she working on.  Life in a scooter simply sucks!

 

 

 

I hope she achieves her goal, I can only imagine how frustrating and just tough it is at times when your mobility is not what it was.

1 hour ago, Rustyman said:

I’ve a TA but was wondering if I do Celebrities lift and shift request online if it locks you I’m always reluctant to call Celebrity due to cost per minute and wait time. Also as we have flights included through Celebrity with the booking are they pushed forward with a lift and shift?

We booked direct with Celebrity but in your case you would need to go through your TA, I would get very firm confirmation if you are worried the lift and shift may not work for you.

20 minutes ago, Rustyman said:

A quick question, if I start the request to lift and shift am I locked in to the change?

I think you would need to phone Celebrity on that one.

12 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I think it's interesting and no small coincidence that this is happening at the time of Covid-19 and the recent cruise ship debacles with same.   I think that is really what it is about and the other arguments, overall, are just an excuse (granted, there are some who petitioned for this before but I think Covid-19 is really driving this).  I really love stopping in Key West as a port stop - love to just walk around the town as it is so pleasant.  Also nice shops and bars and restaurants.  I would really, really hate to see it cut out of our itinerary.  

 

All that said, I think another side to this is the continued emergence (at least up until now) of cruise ships that are bigger and bigger and bigger.  It has gotten way out of hand.  I hate to stop in ports when the megaships are docked.  Many of the ports (I sail mostly Caribbean) are simply overwhelmed with the number of people.   Costa Maya is a good example.  Last couple of times there we were docked with an Oasis class ship also in port.  The tourist area right off the ship was so crowded you literally were shoulder to shoulder - you could barely move.  We turned around and got right back on the ship.  Many of these smaller ports simply cannot handle the huge crowds these ships bring.  There is certainly some argument to ban them (although this ban would be much more strict size-wise).  After Covid, I have to wonder if the cruise lines will start to reevaluate their plans to continue to build at all, and to continue to build floating cities.

 

 

We love cruising but at the same time realise it’s ruined the experience in some places, huge numbers of cruise passengers totally changes the atmosphere of the likes of Caribbean islands. If I lived there I would probably hate the ships, if I relied on the income ( although it is small per passenger next to land based individuals on holiday) I would want it to continue. 

1 hour ago, beloum said:

Has there been any word or indication if the Lift and Shift program will be extended beyond 8/1?     I am booked on 12/9/20 cruise and while still hopeful, the sensible side of me is starting to take over.   Thanks

No word and it’s getting closer to the deadline which is why we did the lift and shift. Personally I would not be leaving it to the last minute just in case there is an issue, it’s a request not a given as many people have found, we were 48 hours from requesting the change to it being confirmed. 

8 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

This is one of the areas of inconsistency, some reps apparently insisting on no variations while others are displaying a good deal more flexibility. Our L&S had one change in port for an otherwise identical 12 day cruise. The website Q&A is pretty ambiguous, saying that it must be the "same itinerary type", whatever that means.

Yep it’s not that clear, our shift was identical apart from the ship, the following cruise still had Singapore and Vietnam but included Taiwan and  Japan, I’m pretty sure they would not have accepted a change to that one.

1 hour ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Lift & Shift allows you to move an existing booking to a comparable sailing without losing perks and keeping the same price as the original sailing.  Some of the rules are:

• currently the shift has to be done by August 1, 2020;
• the new sailing has to be a year from the original +/- 30 days;
• the length of the new cruise has to be the same as old one; 
• the cruising region has to be the same as the old cruise (you can substitute Western Caribbean for Eastern but not Caribbean for Alaska); 
• you can switch from an M class to an S class or visa versa;
• if you are on an S or M class you cannot switch to an E class;
• unless the original is a Galapagos cruise you cannot switch to one
• you cannot switch to a holiday sailing unless your original sailing was a holiday sailing.

I think this about covers it. The full rules are on Celebrity's web site.

We shifted from a 7 day B2B cruise on Edge in 2021 to Apex in 2022 at the same price as the Edge booking.

I think the ports also need to be the same.

Things I don’t miss

CHAIR HOGS ( stop only thinking about yourselves)

The plates in the buffet left with half the food uneaten, you are allowed to go back for seconds so don’t pile everything on knowing you will waste half if it.

The passengers complaining it’s not what it used to be ( we are incredibly lucky to enjoy a thing two thirds of the world could never afford people).

I think I may love everything else, those crew that work so hard and will never enjoy the luxuries we enjoy yet are so happy and still make the most of life appreciating the little things like a thank you.